Review of Ramp-it-up in Bristol
Discussion
Great place, went there a little while ago to service the car.
I bought all of the service stuff myself, phoned them and booked it up for a Saturday morning, planning to be there for 2 hours.
I arrived, drove the car in onto the ramp, got it airborne, and was showed the tools, and where I could wash my hands and so on.
I was also told that they would happily take the old oil away as they reuse for their heating (I think) less worries for me!
I ran engine flush in the car for 10 minutes, and whilst it was running I changed the cabin and air filter and got everything ready for the oil change. Once I was done, switched then engine off, emptied it out into the oil catch can and left it draining. I then flushed a litre of clean oil through (for peace of mind) and let that drain back in.
After changing the spark plugs and replacing the sump plug I started on the oil filter. This is where I ran into trouble as Fiat in their infinite wisdom decided that putting it under the turbo and about a microbe away from the cat was a good idea. I tried with various tools I was provided (Proper oil filter removal tool aswell) and got nowhere, so asked for some help and was happily assisted by one the guys there (shop owner I think) and he gave me a socket that fitted from his personal(!) collection.
Once this was done and the oil filter replaced I gave the socket back and ended up chatting about my car, and his cars for about half an hour (talking about his Subaru drift car, his Jag XJR, 250z and a 200SX aswell! He then helped me get a circlip off for the cooling system and he found a jubilee clip to replace it, and showed me the best way of making it stay on.
3 hours later I was finished and went to pay, and he said as we were chatting for ages i'll only charge 2, and didn't charge me for the jubilee clip either!
Then there was an issue with the card terminal (It was Feb 14th, I wonder why..) and he let me use his PC to pay via Paypal, 1 stamp in the service book later I went away a very happy bunny.
Great service, always happy to help and they are genuinely nice blokes who happen to be massive petrolheads!
MODS: I have no association with the company, just one happy customer
I bought all of the service stuff myself, phoned them and booked it up for a Saturday morning, planning to be there for 2 hours.
I arrived, drove the car in onto the ramp, got it airborne, and was showed the tools, and where I could wash my hands and so on.
I was also told that they would happily take the old oil away as they reuse for their heating (I think) less worries for me!
I ran engine flush in the car for 10 minutes, and whilst it was running I changed the cabin and air filter and got everything ready for the oil change. Once I was done, switched then engine off, emptied it out into the oil catch can and left it draining. I then flushed a litre of clean oil through (for peace of mind) and let that drain back in.
After changing the spark plugs and replacing the sump plug I started on the oil filter. This is where I ran into trouble as Fiat in their infinite wisdom decided that putting it under the turbo and about a microbe away from the cat was a good idea. I tried with various tools I was provided (Proper oil filter removal tool aswell) and got nowhere, so asked for some help and was happily assisted by one the guys there (shop owner I think) and he gave me a socket that fitted from his personal(!) collection.
Once this was done and the oil filter replaced I gave the socket back and ended up chatting about my car, and his cars for about half an hour (talking about his Subaru drift car, his Jag XJR, 250z and a 200SX aswell! He then helped me get a circlip off for the cooling system and he found a jubilee clip to replace it, and showed me the best way of making it stay on.
3 hours later I was finished and went to pay, and he said as we were chatting for ages i'll only charge 2, and didn't charge me for the jubilee clip either!
Then there was an issue with the card terminal (It was Feb 14th, I wonder why..) and he let me use his PC to pay via Paypal, 1 stamp in the service book later I went away a very happy bunny.
Great service, always happy to help and they are genuinely nice blokes who happen to be massive petrolheads!
MODS: I have no association with the company, just one happy customer
It is good. They asked to see what I was using and were floating about the workshop so could see what I was doing so I guess they took it on that.
It was the first time I had been there, but it was great. Will definitely go back again when I need to do something else to the car. Intercooler upgrade perhaps
It was the first time I had been there, but it was great. Will definitely go back again when I need to do something else to the car. Intercooler upgrade perhaps
I'm not sure how I haven't heard of this place, a quick Google shows they're just around the corner (relatively). I'd often considered getting a unit with some mates just to make working on my car more comfortable but this might be more cost effective for how little use I'd get out of it.
All those potentially pretty minor jobs that I'd DIY if I had a set of ramps and an airline that end up with a garage just because it's less hassle, this sounds like heaven.
All those potentially pretty minor jobs that I'd DIY if I had a set of ramps and an airline that end up with a garage just because it's less hassle, this sounds like heaven.
Edited by Timfy on Monday 23 March 23:03
I would also like to second the review by R2T2...
I recently purchased a 08 plate Saab 93 Estate as a practical alternative to the TVR Chim. The new Saab has the 1.9 tid engine which I had read about on here being prone to cam belt failures due to the water pump seizing up. The dealer I was buying off said they would supply the car MOT'd and serviced and if the cambelt / water pump was due they would also complete that work. Upon checking they said the belt was not due according to Saab's service plan, and it appeared that fully serviced just meant an oil change. Anyway after reading up on the cam belt issue and with the car being at 60K and 7 years old I decided I would do the cambelt and water pump myself. So I negotiated a further £500 off the car price for a trade type deal, i.e. Limited warranty, No cam belt replacement, no service, but still a full MOT.
Anyway....part of the decision to do all the work my self was finding this thread about ramp it up in Bristol. I have worked on cars a bit before i.e. done a clutch on my chim, but was not confident enough to just do a cam belt on a car I had just purchased.
I phoned up Chris at ramp it up and booked the car in for two full days. I then ordered from a saab part specialist, A cambelt kit incl, idler, tensioner and water pump. As well as a full major service kit with all the fluids, and a fan belt.
With the boot full of the required parts I set off to ramp it up. The setup in my opinion is ideal. For the daily rental cost, you get your own propper two post lift (inc a briefing on its correct operation), as well as a fully shadow boarded tool wall, with every general tool you could require, i.e. torches, all kinds of socket sets, a torque wrench, pry bars, all the standard stuff. Also Chris supplies other tools such as trolley jacks and engine cranes as you require them.
The day did get off to a bad start in that upon trying to get the front wheel off for the fist time to get access to the crank pulley the locking wheel nut key refused to budge the wheel stud. so after several hours of us trying different methods, we eventually decided it was hopeless and I took the car out to find a local machine shop, who made a very nice job of drilling the stud out. We think that the last person who put the wheel on did up all the studs inc the locking one with a big windy gun!
A lot of day 1 was wasted due to mucking about with wheel studs so I just did the filter and oil changes on the rest of day 1, very easy to do when you have all the kit!
First thing day 2 I started the cambelt, i must admit that even after reading what was involved in the haynes manual I was quite surprised by how much had to be removed from the car for access. But all went smoothly, having the proper car lift sped things up no end. Chris was floating about to offer advice when I got stuck / dithered / not sure about something. One particularly handy thing about ramp it up is Chris can source parts supper quick for you. For instance I had the idler and the tensioner for the cambelt with me as these are supposed to be replaced with the cam belt. But upon removing the fan belt, the idler and tensioner both felt rough, I had not bought these, dint really whant to have to put it all back together just to have to replace these parts in the near future, but time was also against me as I had to drive home that night. Anyway Chris keeps an account with all the local motor factors and within the hour a bloke arrived delivering the parts, which were simply added onto my ramp it up bill at the end.
It did take slightly longer than the full day to get the cambelt done as I had not done one before, and was dithering around a bit. But Chris let me leave the car in the bay that night so that I could have a few more hours the next day to flush and bleed the engine coolant.
Upon finishing the work, we filled out the service book and Chris stamped it with the ramp it up seal of approval, I also kept all the part receipts for future proof that the work was undertaken.
I understand people also go there for longer terms to do car restorations (I think there was talk of a DIY paint booth being installed soon?) this got me thinking about doing my TVRs body lift / restoration there, this looked really appealing to me. I have decided to can the TVR major overhaul for the moment as I could see the house deposit getting spent on shinny bits for the TVR!
All in all a really good setup, definitely gets my recommendation! Chris even dint charge me for a chunk of the first day when I had to go out find a machine shop to get the wheel stud out.
My only problem is that Ramp it up is a two and a half hour round trip away from me, if I was a bit closer I think I would be in and out with the TVR all the time!
I recently purchased a 08 plate Saab 93 Estate as a practical alternative to the TVR Chim. The new Saab has the 1.9 tid engine which I had read about on here being prone to cam belt failures due to the water pump seizing up. The dealer I was buying off said they would supply the car MOT'd and serviced and if the cambelt / water pump was due they would also complete that work. Upon checking they said the belt was not due according to Saab's service plan, and it appeared that fully serviced just meant an oil change. Anyway after reading up on the cam belt issue and with the car being at 60K and 7 years old I decided I would do the cambelt and water pump myself. So I negotiated a further £500 off the car price for a trade type deal, i.e. Limited warranty, No cam belt replacement, no service, but still a full MOT.
Anyway....part of the decision to do all the work my self was finding this thread about ramp it up in Bristol. I have worked on cars a bit before i.e. done a clutch on my chim, but was not confident enough to just do a cam belt on a car I had just purchased.
I phoned up Chris at ramp it up and booked the car in for two full days. I then ordered from a saab part specialist, A cambelt kit incl, idler, tensioner and water pump. As well as a full major service kit with all the fluids, and a fan belt.
With the boot full of the required parts I set off to ramp it up. The setup in my opinion is ideal. For the daily rental cost, you get your own propper two post lift (inc a briefing on its correct operation), as well as a fully shadow boarded tool wall, with every general tool you could require, i.e. torches, all kinds of socket sets, a torque wrench, pry bars, all the standard stuff. Also Chris supplies other tools such as trolley jacks and engine cranes as you require them.
The day did get off to a bad start in that upon trying to get the front wheel off for the fist time to get access to the crank pulley the locking wheel nut key refused to budge the wheel stud. so after several hours of us trying different methods, we eventually decided it was hopeless and I took the car out to find a local machine shop, who made a very nice job of drilling the stud out. We think that the last person who put the wheel on did up all the studs inc the locking one with a big windy gun!
A lot of day 1 was wasted due to mucking about with wheel studs so I just did the filter and oil changes on the rest of day 1, very easy to do when you have all the kit!
First thing day 2 I started the cambelt, i must admit that even after reading what was involved in the haynes manual I was quite surprised by how much had to be removed from the car for access. But all went smoothly, having the proper car lift sped things up no end. Chris was floating about to offer advice when I got stuck / dithered / not sure about something. One particularly handy thing about ramp it up is Chris can source parts supper quick for you. For instance I had the idler and the tensioner for the cambelt with me as these are supposed to be replaced with the cam belt. But upon removing the fan belt, the idler and tensioner both felt rough, I had not bought these, dint really whant to have to put it all back together just to have to replace these parts in the near future, but time was also against me as I had to drive home that night. Anyway Chris keeps an account with all the local motor factors and within the hour a bloke arrived delivering the parts, which were simply added onto my ramp it up bill at the end.
It did take slightly longer than the full day to get the cambelt done as I had not done one before, and was dithering around a bit. But Chris let me leave the car in the bay that night so that I could have a few more hours the next day to flush and bleed the engine coolant.
Upon finishing the work, we filled out the service book and Chris stamped it with the ramp it up seal of approval, I also kept all the part receipts for future proof that the work was undertaken.
I understand people also go there for longer terms to do car restorations (I think there was talk of a DIY paint booth being installed soon?) this got me thinking about doing my TVRs body lift / restoration there, this looked really appealing to me. I have decided to can the TVR major overhaul for the moment as I could see the house deposit getting spent on shinny bits for the TVR!
All in all a really good setup, definitely gets my recommendation! Chris even dint charge me for a chunk of the first day when I had to go out find a machine shop to get the wheel stud out.
My only problem is that Ramp it up is a two and a half hour round trip away from me, if I was a bit closer I think I would be in and out with the TVR all the time!
Another great recommendation for Ramp-It-Up - I visited Chris there on Saturday to replace the cat on my S2000. The tools on offer were great, as was the advice and second pair of hands he was more than happy to use on the dodo occasion I needed some assistance.
Unfortunately I ran into a couple of issues with the parts I had, so bodged it together and went back this morning to replace a gasket and spring bolt kit to sort the blow from the joint. Another hour and all was completed.
All in, I spent £45 renting the ramp for a total of 3.5 hours (£30 for 2.5 hours on Saturday and £15 for an hour today). Would definitely go back again, as I can only imagine that trying to do the same job on my driveway on axle stands would have taken a full day with 10 years of rusted bolts!
Unfortunately I ran into a couple of issues with the parts I had, so bodged it together and went back this morning to replace a gasket and spring bolt kit to sort the blow from the joint. Another hour and all was completed.
All in, I spent £45 renting the ramp for a total of 3.5 hours (£30 for 2.5 hours on Saturday and £15 for an hour today). Would definitely go back again, as I can only imagine that trying to do the same job on my driveway on axle stands would have taken a full day with 10 years of rusted bolts!
Another recommendation here.
It's amazing the difference a ramp can make to some jobs and at around £10 an hour, it's really good value.
I think this is one of those were we either use it or lose it as they don't get enough business. I for one, want it to be successful so it's there when I need it.
It's amazing the difference a ramp can make to some jobs and at around £10 an hour, it's really good value.
I think this is one of those were we either use it or lose it as they don't get enough business. I for one, want it to be successful so it's there when I need it.
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